Decolonizing Spirituality of the Nagas in Northeast India

Abstract: Colonialists, such as American Baptist missionaries and British administrators and/or ethnographers, rejected the Nagas’ traditional-primal religion in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This blatant colonial rejection, I argue, has severe short-term and long-term consequences, as early converts began avoiding cultural events associated with traditional religion and as certain contemporary Naga Christians/theologians resist engaging with indigenous spirituality. Considering this prevailing reality, I argue for the decolonization of the spirituality of the Nagas in Northeast India to debunk the colonial imposition of their religious values and reclaim their indigenous spirituality, which is rooted in nature as well as their lived experiences.

Presenter bio: My name is Taimaya Ragui. I am a tribal-indigenous researcher from Ukhrul, India. I have a PhD in theology from the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (Bangalore, India). Currently, I work as a research tutor at The Shepherd’s Academy of Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life (UK).

Affiliation: The Shepherd’s Academy, Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life